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Cindy Ratzlaff

Bestselling author, award winning brand marketing and social media pro, Cindy Ratzlaff, creates sales driving campaigns for authors, books and publishers.

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Authors need to build a platform to help readers find their work.

Platforms and Personal Branding for Authors

By Cindy Ratzlaff August 18, 2015

Congratulations. You’ve written a book. Now you’re about to take on a new job; Chief Marketing Officer of the Brand of You.

“I just self-published my first book and I need help marketing the book.”

Every week I received at least one email from an author that starts like this, “I just self-published my first book and I need help marketing the book.”  I always respond to the author with the following questions:

  1. What are your goals in publishing this book?
  2. What is your platform for helping your ideal reader find your book?
  3. What is your current plan for letting your ideal reader know your book exists?

The first question informs the entire approach to book marketing and promotion. The second question lets me know if the author has any way to let readers know the book exists. The second question lets me know if the author understands the concept of “discoverability.” The third question helps me guide the author to focus on the actions that they will most likely be able to take to help them achieve their goals.

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Facebook Marketing Strategies

The New Rules of Facebook Marketing

By Cindy Ratzlaff May 31, 2015

Facebook moved your cheese. When Facebook began rolling out the new news feed algorithm, downgrading reach for business pages and making it necessary for brands, businesses, entrepreneurs and solo-preneurs to “pay-to-play” to reach more of their fan base, there was gnashing of teeth, wringing of hands and groaning heard throughout the publishing industry and beyond. People threw up their hands and declared they were leaving Facebook.

But is that really the answer for authors, publishers and booksellers who want to help readers find their next book?

Facebook visibility, in my opinion, is a math problem first and a content marketing strategy problem second.

Facebook Visibility is a Math Problem

More than one billion users log into Facebook every month. That’s an enormous ecosystem for authors. The average Facebook user sees updates from only a fraction of their friends or the pages they’ve liked.

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Publishing Secrets for Authors | Five Questions with the Expert | Writer Alisa Bowman

By Cindy Ratzlaff February 26, 2010

This week I’m launching a new blog series called Five Questions with the Expert.  Each week we’ll look behind the scenes at how an expert in the field of book and or magazine publishing is bringing his or her work to a wider audience, and hopeful share some insights into how you can, too.  Our first expert is blogger and writer Alisa Bowman who has just parlayed her wildly popular blog into a book publishing deal.

Alisa has a gift for creating bestselling books.  She has ghostwritten and collaborated on six New York Times bestsellers. Her works have collectively sold more than 2 million copies.  A former magazine editor and newspaper reporter, Alisa has written for Better Homes & Gardens, Women’s Health and many other national magazines. The concept behind her blog, Project: Happily Ever After, won her a book deal with Running Press and her book will be published in January 2011.

Five Questions with Expert Alisa Bowman

Writer, Author, Blogger Alisa Bowman

RATZLAFF:

You have a well-read blog that you’ve been able to spin off into a book deal.  What’s different between blogging and crafting a book?

BOWMAN:

This will sound like a giant, “duh,” but a blog is the short form and a book is the long form. It’s similar to the difference between running a 5-K and running a marathon. For the former, you can probably run the race without any training. For the later, if you try to run it without training and preparation, you’ll end up in the medic tent.

But that’s what many bloggers try to do when they attempt to take the leap from blog to book. Thanks, in part, to online courses and workshops that encourage this, they mine everything from their blog, slap it all together in a logical order, and write a few transitions. Voila, they call this a book. While it might technically be a book — it has 60,000 words sandwiched between two covers — it’s not going to be a book that sells. The best books have a personality (a strong voice) and a hook. They can be summed up in one sentence (the so-called elevator pitch), and they fill a deep need in the reader. They solve a problem–whether that problem is boredom or the need for an escape (for novels and memoir) or something more physical (like diabetes), and they solve this problem in a unique, memorable way.

I have a ghost writing background, so I’ve written many more books than the one that is branded with my blog. (Notice, I said “branded” with the blog and not “based on” the blog). I’ve penned more than 30. For each one of them, I followed a similar process, and that process starts with studying the competition. When I was thinking about the Project: Happily Ever After memoir, I bought and read nearly every memoir that had ever been written. I studied them. I thought about what made some successful and others not so much. More important, I spent quite a bit of time thinking about how mine would be different. How would I tell a story about my marriage in a way that had never been told before? How would I address marriage in a new, refreshing way, one that would resonate with readers? What was the one sentence that would tie the entire book together, the one that I could say on TV, “This book tells the story of ….”? To distinguish Project: Happily Ever After from other relationship books, I wrote about topics that most people don’t write about. I wrote about how I was so unhappily married that I planned my husband’s funeral. I wrote about the fights we had over how to fold the laundry. I wrote about sex, and how I dreaded having it. More important, I wrote about embarrassing things: about the envy and jealousy I felt when my husband was unemployed, because, deep down, I wanted the opportunity to be the person on the recliner who watched TV all day long. In writing about all of that, it’s my hope that I created a book that stands out from the others on the shelf. I hope I wrote the first book that allows unhappily married people to feel normal. It’s also, as far as I know, the first relationship book that uses a true story as a parable that others can learn from, complete with tips and a marriage improvement guide at the end. Oh, and it has a happy ending. Oddly, that’s different, too. Most marriage memoirs either start or end with a divorce

RATZLAFF:

How did you grow your blog following from launch to the kind of following that was attractive to a book publisher?

BOWMAN:

In the beginning, I told all of my friends about it, and I begged them to read it. That didn’t work so well. So then got depressed. Then I obsessively checked my blog stats, as if doing so would somehow elevate them. That depressed me even more. Then I read about building a following and everything I read said the same thing: write good content and the following will come. I have to say that advice is pretty much spot on. The following doesn’t come overnight, mind you. There are some bloggers who go from zero to a million visitors in one year, and then there are the rest of us who capture a following slowly over time. But great content is definitely the most important part of the equation. You can’t write a half-assed blog (just as you can’t write a half-assed book). If you don’t put your heart and soul into it–if you are not absolutely passionate about it–potential readers will notice, and they will go elsewhere.

Other techniques that helped included:

  • Hiring an SEO (search engine optimization) expert to help me make my blog more Google friendly
  • Guest posting on larger blogs
  • Getting quoted in the media. One quote in a CNN.com article about Jon and Kate sent 10,000 readers to my blog in just one day.
  • Networking with other bloggers who have promoted my blog to their following, and I’ve done the same in return. I highly recommend blogging conferences, especially the smaller ones like Blissdom and Type A Mom. They allow you to meet other bloggers who will remember you–and who you will remember. These smaller conferences foster a true camaraderie.
  • Writing somewhat viral “list” posts and promoting them through social networking

RATZLAFF:

How often do you post on your blog?

BOWMAN:

I used to try to post everyday, because I’d read somewhere that all good bloggers do that. You know what? I have a full-time freelance writing career and a family. Posting everyday did one thing: it burned me out. When you are burned out, you don’t produce good content. At least I sure don’t.

So now I try to post 2 to 3 times a week. Some weeks, I get on a roll and feel super inspired, so I post more often. But I don’t smack myself on the butt and force myself to post if I’m having a busy day or if I’m not feeling it. I give myself a break.

RATZLAFF:

What other activities do you engage in, online, to help your blog readership grow?

BOWMAN:

I have a strong Facebook presence. It could be stronger (I still don’t have a fan page!), but it has definitely allowed me to capture a secondary blog audience. I’ve friended just about everyone I’ve ever known: high school and college classmates, former co-workers, blogging buddies, fellow freelance writers, family members, friends, and people who I don’t really know but who are in the same networking groups I am. I also allow my blog readers to friend me. My blog feeds into Facebook, and this has allowed all of those contacts to stay up with my blog without going to it. It’s a softer sell than emailing my friends and asking them to check out my latest post. And now most of my friends do read my blog. More important, my fellow freelance writers generally keep me in mind when they are writing about sex and marriage, and they call me to get my take.

I’m also on Twitter, but as most people who follow me know, I’m quite sporadic about my presence there.

RATZLAFF:

What’s the #1 piece of advice you’d give to new bloggers?

BOWMAN:

I have three tips:

  1. Be you. Too often people try to copy super successful blogs. This doesn’t work. You have something unique to offer the world. Find it and put it out there.
  2. Be courageous: If a topic scares you, you should definitely write about it. We’re usually scared to write about our weaknesses and our failures, but other people love to read about those topics because it makes them feel stronger and more successful. If you don’t believe me, read Penelope Trunk for a while. She has a huge following, and it’s because she makes her life sound like a daily train wreck.
  3. Be willing to break the rules: Be a nonconformist. No rule was made to be followed 100 percent of the time. For instance, people will tell you that blog posts should be short. You know what? My most popular post to date was 2000 words long. People will tell you that you should post every day. You know what? Tim Ferris only posts once a week and he has more than a million readers. People will tell you that you need to stick to your niche. You know what? Many successful bloggers don’t do this 100 percent of the time. Again, study Penelope Trunk. Her blog is supposed to be about career advice, but usually it’s about her screwed up relationship with this farmer she’s dating and sort of marrying but also sort of not marrying. (Yep, you’re so going over there now, aren’t you?)

I love hearing how writers are crafting a living from their talent and I hope these insights from Alisa are useful to you.  Be sure to visit Alisa on her blog, her Facebook profile, her website and her Twitter Account.  Say hi and let her know you met her here.  Alisa is a great example of a writer who knows how to Create Conversations about You!

Marketing and Self Improvement Books | 14 Books to Inspire and Motivate Entrepreneurs and Business Professionals

By Cindy Ratzlaff December 31, 2009

Recently a Facebook friend from Pakistan asked me to recommend a list of books to inspire his students both in business and personally. I asked my Facebook and Twitter friends and followers to chime in so we could send him a thoughtful list of great books to share with his students. I thought you’d like to see the list of inspiring business and personal development books that came from my request for suggestions. I’ve included links to their respective pages on Amazon.com and in full disclosure, these are affiliate links which means that if you choose to purchase them, I stand to earn an average of sixty cents. You are forewarned and the FTC is happy.

Inspirational business and personal development books
1. Stones into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books, Not Bombs in Afghanistan and Pakistan by Greg Mortneson. (Viking/December 2009) Greg Mortenson is the recipient of Pakistan’s highest civil award (The Star of Pakistan) for his sixteen years work to promote education and peace. The cofounder of the Central Asia Institute and Pennies For Peace, he lives in Montana with his family. http://bit.ly/4pHp7x

2. Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn (Knopf/September 2009) Publishers Weekly said “NewYork Times columnist Kristof and his wife, WuDunn, a former Times reporter, make a case for investing in the health and autonomy of women worldwide. More girls have been killed in the last fifty years, precisely because they were girls, than men were killed in all the wars of the twentieth century, they write, detailing the rampant gendercide in the developing world, particularly in India and Pakistan.” http://bit.ly/8dwNEr

3. Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell (Little, Brown and Company/November 2008) Named by Amazon as a Best of the Month in November 2008, Gladwell poses this provocative question: why do some people succeed, living remarkably productive and impactful lives, while so many more never reach their potential? He concludes that super achievers don’t just happen, “they are invariably the beneficiaries of hidden advantages and extraordinary opportunities and cultural legacies that allow them to learn and work hard and make sense of the world in ways others cannot.” Examining famous “outliers” from Mozart to Bill Gates, he lays out his theory that high achievers know how to take advantage of opportunity and concludes “some [are] just plain lucky.” http://bit.ly/6Cni9V

3. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell (Back Bay Books/2002) This is a terrific book detailing how marketing ideas become mainstream ideas and just exactly who and what contribute to an idea going from a small circle of adopters to a massive movement. This was a major bestseller and “tipping point” became a part of the lexicon we still use to describe an idea or product becoming a mega success. http://bit.ly/7fVRF0

4. Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell (Back Bay Books/April 2007) This international bestseller details the power of trusting your own instincts in business and learning to listen to that quiet voice that affirms the perfect idea (or warns you about an imperfect idea) in a blink. http://bit.ly/70SfmJ

5. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by Stephen R. Covey (Free Press/2004 15th anniversary edition) International bestseller for more than 15 years on specific work habits most successful people share and how you, too, can develop those habits. http://bit.ly/6NqQQW

6. Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson, M.D. (G.P. Putnam’s Sons/September 2008)
Change can be a blessing or a curse, depending on your perspective. The message in Who Moved My Cheese? is that in order to survive change you need to take action because inaction means death. Who Moved My Cheese? is a very short parable with a simple message that will stay with you long after the hour it takes to read this book. Once again, this book title became a part of our lexicon and is especially poignant and useful during this economic downturn as hundreds of thousands of unemployed realize that some, indeed, moved their cheese. In fact, their cheese may never come back and they’d better learn to eat wheat. http://bit.ly/5povmK

7. Fearless: Creating the Courage to Change the Things you Can by Steve Chandler (Robert D. Reed/July 2008) Chandler’s book delves into the ways in which fear of money, relationships and even death can keep one from living up to their true potential and attaining success. http://bit.ly/6xEELQ

8. 100 Ways to Motivate Yourself by Steve Chandler (Career Press/September 2004) motivational speaker Steve Chandler helps you create an action plan for living your vision in business and in life and suggests 100 ideas to positively change the way you think and act. http://bit.ly/7YGaIY

9. Make a Name for Yourself: Eight Steps Every Woman Needs to Create a Personal Brand Strategy for Success by Robin Fisher Roffer (Broadway/January 2008) Roffer’s personal brand building strategies begin with identifying your extraordinary attributes, thinking about your values and passions, and learning how to use them to build a successful and fulfilling professional life. http://bit.ly/4Ov8He

10. Pour Your Heart Into it: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time by Howard Schultz. (Hyperion/January 1999) Amazon.com says “Whether you’re an entrepreneur, a manager, a marketer, or a curious Starbucks loyalist, Pour Your Heart into It will let you in on the revolutionary Starbucks venture. CEO Howard Schultz recounts the company’s rise in 24 chapters, each of which illustrates such core values as “Winning at the expense of employees is not victory at all.” http://bit.ly/7sNOn7

11. Crush It! Why Now is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion by Gary Vaynerchuk (HarperStudio/October 2009) Vaynerchuk built his family business from a successful $4 million a year to a $50 a year business by tapping into his passion and his predisposition for entertaining personal engagement. He is a social media success story. http://bit.ly/8qKQiv

12. The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch From Amazon.com’s review: “When Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, was asked to give such a lecture, he didn’t have to imagine it as his last, since he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. But the lecture he gave–“Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams”–wasn’t about dying. It was about the importance of overcoming obstacles, of enabling the dreams of others, of seizing every moment (because “time is all you have…and you may find one day that you have less than you think”). It was a summation of everything Randy had come to believe. It was about living. In this book, Randy Pausch has combined the humor, inspiration and intelligence that made his lecture such a phenomenon and given it an indelible form. It is a book that will be shared for generations to come.” http://bit.ly/80umwz

13. Business Fitness: The Power to Succeed–Your Way by Dawn Lennon (Glenbridge Pub Ltd/June 2007) Focusing on four private moves; staying well, staying focused, staying current and staying connected and three public ones, attracting a following, taking the lead and implementing new ideas, Lennon lays out a logical, practical and replicable business strategy for large or small companies alike. http://bit.ly/60RWyK

14. Just Who Will You Be? By Maria Shriver (Hyperion/April 2008 Edition) An inspiration and intimate meditation that urges us to ask ourselves not what we want to be but rather who we want to be, at every different stage of our lives. http://bit.ly/6BELFJ

This is by no means a comprehensive list of inspirational, motivational and instructional books to recommend to students of business and life, but merely represents the responses I received from all of you. I’m sure there are additional books you’d love to see on this list. Post them here so we can all discover new inspiration or rediscover old friends.

How Can I Get My Book on Oprah?

By Cindy Ratzlaff November 16, 2009

An appearance on Oprah Winfrey’s television show is the holy grail for authors. Her influence cannot be understated when it comes to launching a bestselling book. As a veteran book marketing and publicity professional and someone who has successfully booked authors onto her show, I been asked often how authors can get their book on Oprah. Here are some things I’d like authors to keep in mind when considering their book’s chances of landing one of those coveted appearances.

  1. Watch the show, many times. What types of guests do you see on Oprah’s show? What topics are those guests discussing? Does your book fit into the wide range of interests you’ve seen discussed on the show? For many, many authors this is the hardest point to digest. Not every book is right for Ms. Winfrey’s show. You may have written a fantastic book and still not be right for her show.
  2. Think like a producer. If you were in charge of booking guests for Oprah, would you be absolutely positive that the subject matter of your book is a perfect fit for Oprah’s audience? Would you stake your job on recommending your book to Oprah for a segment? Do you know the demographics of Oprah’s audience? They are women. Will your book appeal to women?
  3. Are you an experienced television guest? Television is a big business and the cost of an hour-long show is enormous. Would you and the topic of your book be a good investment for Oprah and her team? Would you and your book be so interesting that ratings might increase because people truly desire the information you have to offer? Can you, personally, deliver that information in a telegenic way and by that I mean can you speak passionately, animatedly and engagingly on your area of expertise? Can you make the viewers “see” your topic?
  4. Television is a visual medium. Standard talking head interviews are alright if you’re a celebrity. If you’re not, Oprah or any television show would be more interested if you had ideas for visually presenting your material. During one appearance on Oprah, Dr. Oz brought a human heart so that Oprah could see and feel what a damaged artery feels like. She was able to touch it and describe to the audience how stiff it felt. It was riveting TV. Do you have something amazing to show your ideas to her television audience?
  5. Can you surprise and inspire a television audience with your information? Do you have something so interesting to say that Oprah will feel compelled to share it with the women who watch her show? Now every author thinks they have compelling material or they wouldn’t have written a book. But to make your book a candidate for Oprah’s show, it needs to appeal to Oprah first and then to her audience. A book about a World War II battle, however important, might not be the best fit for her audience unless, perhaps, it’s about the Navy nurses who are still today, visiting veterans and have banned together to raise money to send deserving young women to nursing school to help fill the nursing shortage. That’s inspiring, motivating and engaging for Oprah’s audience.

Here’s the last observation I’d like to share. No one can guarantee you and your book a spot on Oprah. I mean no one. Oprah and her producers receive hundreds of books and book pitches every week. Her producers comb through the pitches and bring forward those that promise to be the most compelling to Oprah’s audience. Even then, a book may not be slated for a show because books are not the only basis for Oprah’s shows. The team will create a schedule of shows and mix in authors, artists, celebrities and experts throughout any given season. Oprah could, in fact, love your book and still not invite you to be her guest. She is responsible for putting together a season of shows that appeals to her audience across a wide range of subjects. You and your book may or may not fit the needs of her show during a given season. That doesn’t reflect on you as a writer or your book.

So what can you do? Go through the questions above and ask yourself honestly “Is my book right for Oprah?” If you believe it is, submit your pitch. But if after honest reflection you see that it’s not, your time might be better spent connecting with your natural readership where they live.

Make a list of media you watch and listen to ~ after all, the topic of your book was interesting to you. Where would you find YOU in the media? That’s your sweet spot, the place where you’ll find readers who will be as passionate about your book’s subject as you are. Go there and speak to your audience.

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